Denton council approves SCW camera system for town hall, market and Harrison Park

The Denton Town Council voted to move forward with a three-site security camera system from SCW Security, approving the Phase 1 quote of $18,658.70 and directing staff to prepare a budget amendment to cover the cost.

The proposal, presented by Danny Mize of SCW, covered two exterior and one interior cameras at Town Hall, upgrades and an additional camera at the Farmer's Market, and multiple vandal-resistant cameras and pavilion-mounted units at Harrison Park. "The total phase 1 rollout cost is $18,658.70," Mize said during the presentation. He described the package as a turnkey installation that includes equipment, labor and training and said, "Support is 100% free for life."

Council members asked technical questions about mounting, coverage and analytics. Mize demonstrated the vendor software and said the system was configured for local network video recorders with a default retention of 30 days, and that the platform can add automatic license-plate recognition later. "We expect these systems out to have 30 days of footage retention," he said.

Staff warned the purchase was not currently budgeted. "We don't have the funds in that they were not budgeted as far as this budget year," a staff member said during discussion. A councilor moved to proceed with SCW's proposal and to authorize a budget amendment; the chair called the question and the motion carried by voice vote.

Mize warned the vendor is monitoring component tariffs and that prices could rise: the company has seen substantial cost increases and said the current quote is good for 30 days if the town wants to lock the price. Council members discussed timing and asked the vendor to target installation before the town's summer festivals.

Next steps: staff will prepare a budget amendment and, pending that appropriation, the town will finalize contracting and schedule installation.